An Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) scheme or an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) scheme is used for transmitting high speed data in wired and/or wireless channels. These schemes are actively being researched. In the OFDM scheme, frequency usage efficiency increases since this scheme employs a plurality of subcarriers having mutual orthogonality. In the transmitting end and the receiving end, a process of modulating and demodulating the plurality of subcarriers are similar to performing an Inverse Discrete Fourier Transform (IDFT) and a Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT), respectively. As such, an Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) and Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) are used to achieve high speed data communication.
The principle of OFDM scheme includes dividing a high speed data stream into a plurality of low speed data streams which are then transmitted via the plurality of subcarriers. By using the subcarriers to transmit the plurality of low speed data streams, symbol duration is increased which in turn works to reduce relative dispersion in a time domain based on multi-path delay spread. In the OFDM scheme, the data is transmitted in units of transmission symbols.
In an OFDMA physical (PHY) layer, active carriers are divided into groups, and each group is transmitted to different receiving ends. These groups of carriers are referred to as sub-channels. Each sub-channel comprised of carriers can be close in proximity with each other or spaced equally apart from each other. By permitting multi-access per sub-channel, although transmission of the carriers becomes more complex, frequency diversity gain, gain based on focusing the power, and efficient execution of omni-directional power control can be attained.
FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of transmitting/receiving ends using an OFDMA scheme in an uplink direction. First, a data stream is mapped using a modulation technique (e.g., Quadrature Phase Shift Keying, 16 Quadrature Amplitude Modulation) and then is converted into Nu number of parallel data using serial-to-parallel conversion. From total of Nc number of subcarriers, these symbols are mapped to Nu number of subcarriers while remaining subcarriers (Nc-Nu) are padded (e.g., zero padding). Thereafter, Nc-point IFFT is performed to the symbols.
In order to reduce inter-symbol interference, a cyclic prefix is added to the symbols and then transmitted after the symbols are converted using parallel-to-serial conversion. The operation of the receiving end is the same process of that of the transmitting end except in reverse order. A different user's data can be transmitted using an available subcarrier from unused subcarriers (e.g., Nc-Nu).
FIGS. 2a-2c illustrate methods of mapping Nu number of subcarriers out of Nc total number of subcarriers. FIG. 2a illustrates a random allocation of subcarriers, FIG. 2b illustrates allocating the subcarriers by collecting the subcarriers in specified frequency bands, and FIG. 2c illustrates allocating each subcarrier throughout the entire frequency bands in equal intervals.
Since the mapping methods illustrated in FIGS. 2a-2c make use of the entire frequency bands, frequency diversity can be achieved. However, because each subcarrier is allocated individually, timing synchronization of OFDM symbol of different users can be off, and signal quality can suffer due to nearby subcarriers of different users if Doppler frequency is large. Furthermore, in the conventional OFDMA scheme, a single user uses a plurality of subcarriers and as a result, poor Peak-to-Average Power Ratio (PAPR) characteristics can appear and an expensive power amplifier is needed to resolve the poor PAPR problem.
In order to alleviate the poor PAPR characteristics, a DFT spread OFDMA scheme has been proposed. The DFT spread OFDMA scheme is a data symbol precoding method using DFT matrix. FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating transmitting/receiving ends using a DFT spread OFDMA scheme.
The difference between the DFT spread OFDMA scheme and the conventional OFDMA scheme is that in the DFT spread OFDMA, Nu number of data symbols are Nu-point DFTed. Thereafter, as illustrated in FIG. 2c, the converted data symbols are mapped in equal intervals to the entire Nc number of subcarriers. In addition, although the PAPR can be drastically improved by using the DFT spread OFDMA, the function of the DFT spread OFDMA easily heats up due to an Inter Channel Interference (ICI).